Below is a guest blog from our friends at AREVA who were among the 70+ sponsors and exhibitors at the 2012 CNA Conference and Trade Show in Ottawa. AREVA, like many of our member companies, is a great champion for Canada’s nuclear industry. The post below sums up our industry’s optimism with a few key highlights from this year’s presentations. Thanks for sharing, AREVA!

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Tom Mitchell - Chair, WANO Fukushima Response Commission

Executives from the nuclear energy industry expressed optimism regarding business opportunities in Canada this week at the Canadian Nuclear Association’s (CNA) annual conference in Ottawa. Despite the concerns raised following the events at Fukushima, industry leaders see strong prospects for business in Canada.

“While other jurisdictions may be scaling back their nuclear energy commitment because of Fukushima, we are not,” said Tom Mitchell, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), according to an article in the Ottawa Citizen. Mitchell pointed out the events of last year have presented the industry with “a great opportunity.”

“It’s once again made people aware of nuclear energy. It may have put some aspects of the industry on the spot. But it’s also put us in the spotlight,” Mitchell said.

Patrick Lamarre, Executive Vice President, SNC-Lavalin

Patrick Lamarre, executive vice president at SNC-Lavalin group, told a packed conference that “our nuclear business is something we believe in.” Lamarre added that this business could contribute to a significant portion of our bottom line,” according to a Reuters report.

Lamarre urged the Ontario government to move forward with plans to build new reactors in the province, projects he said that would be important for the Province’s economy.

AREVA remains very committed in building new nuclear plants in Canada and has proposed its technology in Ontario as well as in New Brunswick.

“As the leading supplier to the nuclear sector worldwide, AREVA has very broad experience building new reactors and providing services to the existing fleet. In addition, AREVA is one of Canada’s top uranium producers. We remain very bullish regarding opportunities in Canada across all of our business lines,” said Jean-Francois Beland, executive vice president of AREVA Canada.

Anyone who was in attendance will agree: the 2012 Canadian Nuclear Association and Trade Show was top notch! The variety of speakers covered everything from the global industry’s response to the events at Fukushima to nuclear medicine to science and technology etc.,. We’re still busy recovering and wrapping up – which includes going through hundreds of photos of presenters, participants, exhibitors and all the fun, learning and networking that was had.

Take a look at some of the highlights over on our Google+ page. Feel free to tag, share and download full-sized versions of the photos too.

Canada’s nuclear industry is poised for future growth and prosperity, according to discussions at the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) Annual Conference and Trade Show in Ottawa.

“Canada’s nuclear industry is as strong as ever,” said Denise Carpenter, President and Chief Executive Officer, CNA. “Over the past few days, we have had great discussions on how our industry is leveraging lessons learned from Fukushima and how innovations in research and technology can improve and grow nuclear in Canada and abroad.”

More than 650 delegates from the nuclear community attended the conference, themed ‘Leadership Through Innovation.’

Tom Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), provided an overview of the progress made by the World Association of Nuclear Operators Fukushima Response Commission and discussed groundbreaking methods of communicating risk and nuclear safety. (Download the PDF of Tom’s speech here)

“We are not ignoring the lessons we learned from Fukushima,” said Mitchell. “Safety, despite our industry’s excellent track record, can never be taken for granted.”

OPG has almost a dozen Fukushima-related projects underway or planned for implementation between now and the end of 2016.

Other conference highlights included a keynote speech by Patrick Lamarre on the future opportunities for SNC-Lavalin Nuclear following their recent acquisition of the CANDU Reactor Division of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and the presentation of the annual Ian McRae Award to Mr. Gerald (Jerry) Grandey, former Chief Executive Officer of Cameco Corporation.

Conference highlights, including links to videos from speaker sessions, can be found on Twitter by following @TalkNUclear and #cnagm2012.

The Nuclear Innovation panel at this year’s conference will explore “bright ideas to keep the lights on.” Moderator Marc Brouillette will ask questions for our innovative panelists to answer and share their bright ideas on the topics.

Topics for Discussion:

Nuclear power and fostering nuclear S&T. How can we improve?

The impact of the regulatory environment on innovation.

Sourcing new talent today and in the future. How does talent impact innovation?

Scale and Innovation: Do large scale innovations crowd out small projects?

Mr. Brouillette focuses on industry analysis and restructuring strategy and the development of business models for emerging opportunities. He specializes in the creation of public/private multi-stakeholder business models and the negotiation of the associated contract relationships involving domestic and/or international stakeholders. His expertise spans across several industry sectors including aerospace, utilities, health care, gaming and telecommunications.

Prior to joining SECOR in January 2008, Mr. Brouillette was the principal consultant for Strategic Gaming Innovations and a manager within the strategy and transformation practice at CapGemini. While in these roles, he led the development of strategy and business innovation implementation in the charitable gaming sector for clients in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Prior to his career in strategy consulting, he helped develop and negotiate the international agreements defining Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station Program.

Panelist – Michael Lees

Michael Lees, the President of Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy, Inc, an operating group of The Babcock & Wilcox Company.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, B&W NE serves the global commercial nuclear power industry with a broad portfolio of reactor components, nuclear design engineering, plant construction, inspection services and nuclear plant maintenance services. Mr. Lees is also the President of Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd., (B&W Canada) which is headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario.

Prior to being named to his current positions Mr. Lees was Director, Business Development & Marketing, B&W Canada. In this role He had the overall responsibility for identifying and securing new business opportunities. Previous positions include his appointment as General Manager, Nuclear Steam Generators and Components where he managed B&W Canada’s nuclear equipment business.

Mr. Lees serves on the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee for the Canadian Nuclear Association. Mr. Lees is a past recipient of the Ian McRae Award.

Panelist – Robert Prince

Robert Prince, CEO of Hyperion Power Generation

Mr. Prince has over 40 years in the nuclear industry and is a former CEO of Duratek, Inc., a leading radioactive waste transportation, treatment and disposition firm. Under his leadership at Duratek, the company grew from $7 to $300M in revenue when it was acquired in 2006 by EnergySolutions, Inc. He drove the commercialization of several technologies to better handle radioactive materials including a vitrification technology that has been embraced by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Before Duratek, Mr. Prince was the founder and CEO of General Technical Services (GTS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Physics Corporation, whose business was to provide support services to the nuclear power industry. GTS was acquired by Duratek in 1990. Prior to GTS, he was an engineer with Gilbert/Commonwealth where he spent 9 years on a wide range of nuclear power projects in Europe, Latin America, Mexico and the USA.

Mr. Prince is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Aqua-Chem, Thermafiber, MHF Services, and Kurion (a technology startup serving the nuclear industry). In 2004, he was conferred an honorary PhD in Commercial Science from The Catholic University of America for his pioneering initiatives in commercializing radioactive waste vitrification technologies.

Doug Richardson, CEO, General Fusion

Panelist – Doug Richardson

Mr. Richardson is an innovative technology leader who is highly skilled and experienced at developing and commercializing novel and unproven technologies. He has a history of formulating a clear vision, establishing a strategic direction, and successfully developing challenging products under demanding economic and time constraints.

Prior to establishing General Fusion, Doug spent 14 years at Creo Products in Vancouver in various roles from system engineer to director of business development. He led projects and groups that developed Creo Products’ key technologies and delivered profitable businesses and products.